Wednesday, July 06, 2016

God and Politics?

Every time there are elections we see a lot of talk on the Internet
and between people on things like who should one vote for, which
political party is the best, which candidate has the best competence,
and among religious folks, how the believer ought to view polictics in
general, is God interested in politics, can use the scriptures to better
decide which party to vote for? etc ..
These discussions and debates are often very passionate on all sides.
There are many people who say that we should not mix religion and
politics including God and politics. It’s an age old adage. So we hear a
lot about the issue of mixing religion and politics. We hear about it a
lot in the United States regarding their Constitution and the famous
Establishment Clause, “Congress shall make no law Respecting an
establishment of religion “with” … or Prohibiting the free exercise
thereof ” Because of these perpetual quarrels and abuses of these terms
and ideas on the issues, we hear that the church should not “interfere”
in the state.

To clarify the issue I must say at the outset that there is a
difference between “God and State” and “Religion and State”. Religion is
the human expression of beliefs in God or not, metaphysical beliefs.
The government must therefore not impose a specific religion on
the nation since the people must have the right to choose freely. It is
at this level that the words of Christ, “My kingdom is not of this
world.” applies .

However, we must not make the mistake of saying, based on this
saying, that Christ is not interested in human governments. On the
contrary, the Old Testament very clearly declares his interest in the
way that nations act. He is called King of the Nations. Even in the
Apocalypse of John, the book of Revelation, we see the role of nations
in the new earth ruled by Christ and his servants.

Assuming that those who read this article understand the subject fairly well, I will try to clarify some important points.

The Bible is the compass of the world, and not only the Christian. It
is the revelation of God to humanity, not just Jews and Christians, to
show us the way to God and the way of righteousness, justice and mercy
in life. So it’s back to the Scriptures to find the correct views. What
does the Bible say about the subject? Does the Bible speak of it? We
do not want only human, subjective opinions versus another opinion, but
we want to see if the word of God is clear on the subject.
I will start with a quote from a highly relevant key text for all that concerns God and human governments.

At one time I may threaten
to tear up, break down, and destroy a nation or a kingdom. But suppose
the nation that I threatened turns away from doing wrong. Then I will
change my plans about the disaster I planned to do to it. At another time I may promise to build and
plant a nation or a kingdom. But suppose that nation does what I
consider evil and doesn’t obey me. Then I will change my plans about the
good that I promised to do to it. – Jer 18: 7-10

In it God reveals very briefly the principle by which he governs the
nations on earth. The whole principle is closely related to their
obedience or disobedience to the moral law. The very fact that God
intervenes in the affairs of men already gives us an important clue to
the question of God and the State. God is not absent from the state, he is not indifferent to the state and considers the human affairs constantly.
So right there we may not pretend that God and state should be kept
separate, as if one had nothing to do with the other. The reality is
that it is actually impossible to separate them completely! Indeed,
although we could believe that government should not establish a single
religion as the religion of the state, imposed on all, one can not say
that a government can be separated from God and views of religion
either.
In the Old Testament, for example, God arranged to place a person of
his choice as the head of a Nation and over and over again. For
example, Joseph was chosen by God to come to rule Egypt. We see the
many judges he raised up and established. We see the he choose Saul to
be the first king of Israel, followed by David etc. In the story of
Esther we find God very involved in the fate of the Jews in a pagan
nation. We see how God used Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem through the
governor. God is seen to interfer in the Gentile (non Jewish) nations
also. For example with Cyrus that he predetermined many years before
his birth, to become the king of Persia (Iran). We also see Daniel and
his position of influence and governance in Babylon.
The list is long. One can even say with certainty that the Old Testament is the history of moral and political relations between God and nations, especially Israel but many others also. We read in Deut. 32: 7.8

Remember the days of old,
consider the years of generation to generation: ask thy father, and he
will declare to you, your elders, and they will tell thee. When the
Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated
the son of Adam, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the
number of the son of Israel.

We see throughout the Bible that God wants to be respected and served by nations and their leaders. In Psalm 2 we read,

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, and for thy possession the ends of the earth; Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; like a potter’s vessel thou shalt parts. And now, O kings, be wise; you rulers of the earth, receive instruction: Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling; …

In Psalm 9 we read,

Psa 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God;

King David recognized God’s authority when he said, “you have made me head of the nations;”
God is interested, not only in politics. but who will be leader of a
nation. And is it any wonder? Seeing that God’s purposes on earth for
the well being of humanity are always at stake in politics?
Even stronger language is used by Isaiah when he said, concerning the Messiah (Christ), “and the government shall be upon his shoulder;”
In short, to say that we must respect separation of state and
religion and especially with God is simply a very wrong idea! We cannot
separate the them. It is in fact impossible, because God intervenes in
the affairs of men and more than anything else in politics!
Psa 10:28 says,

“For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he dominates among the nations.”

The nations belong to him. He is not an idle, uninterested
bystander. A normal family man is interested in and has daily
involvement with his family and it is his duty. It is also so with God,
indeed it is the duty of God to govern nations.
The prophet Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar

“This order is fixed by the
watchers, and the decision is by the word of the holy ones: so that the
living may be certain that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of
men, and gives it to any man at his pleasure, lifting up over it the
lowest of men.
… your kingdom will be safe for you after it is clear to you that the heavens are ruling.
For this cause, O King, let my suggestion be pleasing to you, and let
your sins be covered by righteousness and your evil-doing by mercy to
the poor, so that the time of your well-being may be longer.” – Dan
4:17…

The interpretation Daniel gave Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was fulfilled and when the time of prophecy was completed seen said,

“… At the end of the days I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding
returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored
him who lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
his kingdom is from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of
the earth are reputed as nothing: and he does according to his will in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth;” – Dan 4:35

King David said,

“The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me: He who rules over men righteously, who
rules in the fear of God is like the morning light when the sun shines
And a morning without clouds; Shining after rain out of the earth the
green. “- 2 Samuel 23

God cares passionately about human affairs and therefore to
claim that we should not mix politics and religion, or more specifically
God and politics, is a major mistake. It is therefore
important that people probe their conscience and the scriptures and
biblical principles in any decision dealing with politics, political
parties and their leaders. We can not pretend that the politics is
religiously neutral. It most definitely is NOT! Politics determines
the governance of a nation and must necessarily touch its morality, its
behavior and thus its fate. It is therefore important that the people
get informed as much as possible on the ideology of a political party,
ideology of its leaders and their goals in government.

This means that the people must try to choose as leaders, chiefs and
the party with the objectives, principles and moral ideology close as
possible to those things in the Bible. The religious person, most
precisely the Jew and the Christian, has a moral obligation to get
informed, to follow biblical principles and not party loyalty or
political leanings and not to just vote as usual or act with
irresponsible complacency towards political choices and involvement.
It is therefore very ignorant of scripture and just plain foolish to
talk of elections, politics and government without God and religion.

Now, does that mean we can take politics into the church to make
sermons? I do not think so. Not to discuss who should vote or to present
the parties and candidates involved. No more than a few words on the
nature of the thing and the Christian duty to carefully examine the
morals, goals etc. each party to make an informed choice by the Bible
and by his conscience before God.